Cherokee school board member indicted on charges of making false statements

The Marietta Daily Journal

October 15, 2013 01:19 PM | 2650 views | 0 | 16 | |

Cherokee School Board Member Kelly Marlow and two of her associates were indicted by a Cherokee grand jury Tuesday on charges of making false statements that the county school superintendent Frank Petruzielo tried to run them down in his car after a long, heated school board meeting in June.

According to an indictment filed with the Cherokee County Clerk of Court's Office on Tuesday afternoon, Marlow, her political adviser Robert Trim and Cherokee GOP Secretary Barbara Knowles were each indicted on charges of making false statements in the incident by a Cherokee County grand jury.

All face more charges than when they were initially arrested in mid-June.

Marlow has been indicted on four counts of making false statements in the case and Trim on three counts. Knowles, who made the initial call to the Canton Police Department reporting the alleged crime, faces one count of false report of a crime and four counts of making a false statement.

The charges against the suspects stem from June 13 when Knowles called the Canton Police Department and reported that Petruzielo tried to run them over as they were walking from the school board meeting to the Painted Pig Tavern in downtown Canton.

After the school board meeting, Knowles called 911 and reported that “the superintendent of the school raced right by me in his white BMW and did not stop,” according to a copy of the 911 call obtained by the Tribune.

The responding police officer wrote in the police report that the three suspects said they felt "threatened" by the car.

A copy of Knowles’ arrest warrant, however, stated that the evidence tells a different story.

“Further investigation showed (Knowles) was already on the sidewalk and not in the roadway when the vehicle passed by her,” the warrant read.

The incident was also captured on tape by a security camera nearby.

After calling 911, Knowles admitted to police that she was crossing the street illegally and not on a crosswalk, police said.

Police records show Marlow and Trim also provided detectives with “signed, written” statements about the incident, which turned out to be false.

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